America is paying an awful price for Trump
America is paying an awful price for Trump
By Frida Ghitis
Updated 4:34 AM ET, Thu December 6, 2018
(CNN)After a "wonderful and very warm dinner" with China's President Xi Jinping, last weekend, President Donald Trump launched a barrage of tweets extolling his great accomplishments. The Chinese, he said, had agreed to remove a 40% tariff on American car imports; they would soon start buying US agricultural products; they had apparently made major concessions as part of a 90-day pause in raising tariffs. The stock markets revved up for a big jump, believing Trump's damaging trade war was coming to an end.
But a serious problem became apparent before long: China was not confirming the details that made Trump's claims so encouraging. Reluctantly optimistic investors drove the market higher on Monday. But by Tuesday, as China's state-controlled media specifically noted that there was "no confirmation from Beijing" about parts of Trump's claims, stock markets fell into a vertiginous downward spiral. The Dow dropped a whopping 799 points.
The next day, China finally expressed optimism about trade talks (without confirming any of Trump's specific claims) but by then the market had sent two clear messages.
First, Trump's lies, exaggerations and self-serving boasts may not bother his most loyal followers, but the rest of the world is not a Trump MAGA rally. Everyone else notices that much of the time the President of the United States cannot be believed.
Second, this loss of credibility comes at a steep price. It doesn't only affect Donald Trump and his closest aides, who faithfully bolster his falsehoods, damaging their own reputation. It ultimately exacts a price from the entire nation.
The President's chronic practice of saying and doing what he thinks is good for him is making the country itself less trusted by its allies, less fiscally sound and less respected around the world. America and its people are already paying, and the costs will continue to mount.
At G20, Trump shows exceptionalism, not leadership
It may be comforting to believe that once the Trump era ends -- however that happens -- the United States will return to some sort of pre-Trump normalcy; that America's allies will trust Washington again and the friendships will continue as if the Trump turmoil had not happened; that the markets will have faith in America as the relatively trusted global epicenter of financial activity; that the world will once again believe what some once did, as former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said in his eulogy to George H.W. Bush, that the United States is "the greatest democratic republic that God has ever placed on the face of this Earth;" that they will again look up to the United States for inspiration on human rights, a free press, diversity and equality. But we should expect no automatic return to the status quo ante Trump on many fronts.
For one, Trump will leave America's fiscal house on a creaking foundation. After last year's tax cut, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the annual budget deficit will reach a staggering $1 trillion in 2020, with the national debt exploding.
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We don't know how much longer Donald Trump will be President. He could remain in the White House for another two years, perhaps run and win a second term, or his presidency could be cut short by the multitude of scandals he has spawned. What we do know is that repairing the damage he continues to inflict will not be easy and will not be quick.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/05/opinions/trumps-damage-to-america-opinion-ghitis/index.html?fbclid=IwAR2Z09azILZ20b_soc2DOCGWM1uVVlZM0EgEEQG9VsIgjooTySbYcKIwC2Y
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us and others. What did they say, everything he touches dies??
In treasonous partnership with russia, they have cursed America with Dirty Donny, the republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief, and lowlife Casino Hustler, who is their dark god.
